Man, I haven't eaten nearly enough of my vegetables. Better get cracking. Going to finally fix that salad for lunch and the garbanzo bean/chard dish. Roasted a truly ancient butternut squash this a.m. (working from home so can take breaks to stick something in the oven, load the washer, etc.); I love the stuff but didn't know it would last so long; going to add a can of sweet potato and make a variation on Heidi Swanson's Thai-spiced pumpkin soup. Guess I'll just sauté and steam the spinach and stick it in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch; had better have another piece of chicken with that, then freeze the remaining pieces and make stock with the bones. Still haven't braved the dandelion greens and not sure how/whether they will keep. Going to a continuing ed dinner tonight at Scott's Seafood, where unfortunately I will be eating beef (limited choices at these kinds of dinners and I am really over salmon just now).
Speaking of butternut squash, and this probably won't be an issue again before the fall, that sucker was hard to peel. Usually I chicken out and roast it halved in the oven, then scoop out the good stuff. But encouraged by a few internet videos, I decided to halve, scoop, peel and cut prior to roasting this time, and all I can say is, if a serrated peeler is what it takes, then I'm going to have to get one. What an ordeal! But it smells really nice now, and I am looking forward to all that coconutty and spicy, creamy goodness.
Yesterday made quite a bit of progress in the kitchen, and I was able to fix brown basmati rice and the lamb and fava bean stew. The stew, in spite of its relatively simple preparation, was delicious. I left out the sugar, not on purpose, but the tomatoes provided enough sweetness, I think. The fava beans, after I had parboiled them and tediously peeled them out of their tenacious little skins, constituted such a tiny pile that I can scarcely credit them with contributing to the flavor of the lamb. I am running out of mealtimes to eat all this stuff, so they may very well go into the freezer; after all, it will be nice to have a healthy meal ready to nuke when I get home Sunday night!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
TJ's Soy Chorizo and other vegetarian things
Finished up the soy chorizo I bought at Trader Joe's last week; had it in my eggs. It's surprisingly not too bad but I doubt I'll be buying it again.
A much more interesting vegetarian item is this recipe for vegetable stock "base" found on another food blog, crediting in turn a book by Pam Corbin. Heidi Swanson's blog has a lot of nice lentil recipes; tempted to try the red lentil one.
Having a lazy day today--was not in the plan, but I did work really hard yesterday, so I guess it's okay. Something about a snoozing cat on your legs. Will roast the chicken for dinner and then pack some of it for the freezer. All the stuff I am making, actually, will go at least partly in the freezer, as I'm spending the (long) weekend at a meeting in Reno. This also means I'll have to prep and do something with next week's box, which per the email I received Friday will contain:
carrots
baby spinach
fresh onions
green garlic
sweet potatoes
asparagus
strawberries
dried peaches
French Breakfast radishes
chard
rosemary
Fava beans OR sugar snap peas
I'm looking forward to the sweet potatoes and the rosemary. Guess the spinach and chard will just need to be sauteed and stuck in the freezer; everything else should keep okay in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Per Eatwell's newsletter they are having a hard time with the rain, which is having a particularly brutal effect on the strawberries. I've eaten up this week's already, mixing them with some kiwis I found at Porter's market, along with slightly sweetened Greek yogurt. Yum. Also finally squeezed a bag of limes and 4 Meyer lemons and froze them in ice cube trays yesterday--I'll move them into ziplocs then.
Since I struck out on the organic bacon, guess I will use the salt pork I bought a couple weeks ago instead--vagulely thinking of some kind of bean soup when I bought it. Might as well use it up in the dandelion dish; might need to be parboiled first if too salty.
A much more interesting vegetarian item is this recipe for vegetable stock "base" found on another food blog, crediting in turn a book by Pam Corbin. Heidi Swanson's blog has a lot of nice lentil recipes; tempted to try the red lentil one.
Having a lazy day today--was not in the plan, but I did work really hard yesterday, so I guess it's okay. Something about a snoozing cat on your legs. Will roast the chicken for dinner and then pack some of it for the freezer. All the stuff I am making, actually, will go at least partly in the freezer, as I'm spending the (long) weekend at a meeting in Reno. This also means I'll have to prep and do something with next week's box, which per the email I received Friday will contain:
carrots
baby spinach
fresh onions
green garlic
sweet potatoes
asparagus
strawberries
dried peaches
French Breakfast radishes
chard
rosemary
Fava beans OR sugar snap peas
I'm looking forward to the sweet potatoes and the rosemary. Guess the spinach and chard will just need to be sauteed and stuck in the freezer; everything else should keep okay in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Per Eatwell's newsletter they are having a hard time with the rain, which is having a particularly brutal effect on the strawberries. I've eaten up this week's already, mixing them with some kiwis I found at Porter's market, along with slightly sweetened Greek yogurt. Yum. Also finally squeezed a bag of limes and 4 Meyer lemons and froze them in ice cube trays yesterday--I'll move them into ziplocs then.
Since I struck out on the organic bacon, guess I will use the salt pork I bought a couple weeks ago instead--vagulely thinking of some kind of bean soup when I bought it. Might as well use it up in the dandelion dish; might need to be parboiled first if too salty.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Kitchen and veggie progress
First some urls for recipes I am choosing:
Lamb with fava beans
Dandelion salad w/hot bacon dressing
Chick peas and chard
Brine for roast chicken
Unfortunately, the kitchen is taking longer to clean than I expected; I've done two loads in the dishwasher and have the prepped vegetables in the fridge, the TJ chicken is brining there, but I've not done any actual cooking yet. A couple more hours tomorrow morning will do it, though, and then I can probably cook everything but the lamb in the afternoon; I plan to cut the young onions and the carrots, coat them in a little olive oil, and roast them alongside the chicken. The spinach can be a side dish to the lamb, just steamed w/olive oil and parmesan or butter and raspberry vinegar.
Yesterday was kind of a wash as far as cooking/cleaning. I ended up spending most of the day shopping. I had discovered some inexpensive baled glass storage bottles at Ross on Wednesday ($7 for 3), so I decided to check out a couple other local Ross's. They also had some amazing prices on small ceramic baking dishes, so I picked up a couple of those, too.
I failed to score at the store that was supposed to have the organic pork. They do have organic chicken, though, and decent-looking seafood, so it wasn't a complete waste. Then a trek to Grocery Outlet, where I got 15 tins of the yellowfin ventresca. I put gas in the car, too, so all in all it was semi-productive but didn't get kitchen clean or food cooked.
The good news is that by tomorrow the kitchen should be clean enough that I will be able to take pictures of what I am cooking.
Lamb with fava beans
Dandelion salad w/hot bacon dressing
Chick peas and chard
Brine for roast chicken
Unfortunately, the kitchen is taking longer to clean than I expected; I've done two loads in the dishwasher and have the prepped vegetables in the fridge, the TJ chicken is brining there, but I've not done any actual cooking yet. A couple more hours tomorrow morning will do it, though, and then I can probably cook everything but the lamb in the afternoon; I plan to cut the young onions and the carrots, coat them in a little olive oil, and roast them alongside the chicken. The spinach can be a side dish to the lamb, just steamed w/olive oil and parmesan or butter and raspberry vinegar.
Yesterday was kind of a wash as far as cooking/cleaning. I ended up spending most of the day shopping. I had discovered some inexpensive baled glass storage bottles at Ross on Wednesday ($7 for 3), so I decided to check out a couple other local Ross's. They also had some amazing prices on small ceramic baking dishes, so I picked up a couple of those, too.
I failed to score at the store that was supposed to have the organic pork. They do have organic chicken, though, and decent-looking seafood, so it wasn't a complete waste. Then a trek to Grocery Outlet, where I got 15 tins of the yellowfin ventresca. I put gas in the car, too, so all in all it was semi-productive but didn't get kitchen clean or food cooked.
The good news is that by tomorrow the kitchen should be clean enough that I will be able to take pictures of what I am cooking.
Friday, April 30, 2010
What I am doing with the veggies
It's a little embarrassing, but I have to admit I really need to clean up my kitchen before I can cook in any reasonable way, and so I am using a furlough day today to do just that. So, just a few thoughts as I enjoy my last cup of coffee before tackling the job.
It doesn't take deep thought to realize a lot of this week's box consists of similar things. Chard, dandelion greens, and spinach look alike and for the most part cook alike. I could saute any of them in olive oil with a bit of onion and garlic, and the optional sprinkling of parmesan, and they would be delicious side dishes. My goal here, though, is to make them the star of the main course, with enough non-meat protein to make them nourishing as well as delicious. Obviously one way to do this is by adding high-fat elements such as eggs and cheese (the egg-and-chard bake I found at the Sunset magazine website called for 18 eggs!). I don't really want to go there, though, and at least initially I'd like to avoid hunting down exotic ingredients such as farro. I have so far found an intriguing-sounding recipe for chard that uses chick peas (garbanzo beans) and tomatoes, so I will probably try that.
Yesterday I was rushing to finish a project at the office, so I actually worked on it in the morning instead of spending time fixing lunch, so all I did was grab 4 of the small carrots and 4 spears of asparagus, along with an organic avocado I'd picked up at TJ's on Tuesday. At lunch time I was going to buy a side salad from the cafe downstairs, but when I went to the kitchen to wash my salad bowl, I found the leavings of what had obviously been a salad tray for some sort of meeting--happens a lot where I work. So I took the remaining lettuce and cut veggies, including a few olives, and put them in my bowl with a can of yellow fin ventresca tuna (note to self: must see if there is any left at Grocery Outlet--the stuff was a steal and is so good!), the sliced avocado, and a little container of vinegar and oil dressing that had also been sitting with the salad remains. I steamed the asparagus spears in a damp paper towel in the microwave for about a minute and a half and put that in the salad, too.
The peas, in case anyone is wondering, ended up being about a half a cup worth after I hulled them--I popped them in the microwave with a little water, salt, and brown sugar and ate them on the spot.
Last night I didn't use any of the veggies--bad girl! But, anyhow, I hope to get the remaining stuff prepped and put away properly today. I have a chicken from TJ's that needs to be roasted, so will probably just do a side-dish kind of prep tonight: maybe that's a good time to make a lovely salad with the lettuce, with some canned beets and artichoke hearts. I could stuff the chicken with some sherry-and-onion sauteed rice. I will report.
It doesn't take deep thought to realize a lot of this week's box consists of similar things. Chard, dandelion greens, and spinach look alike and for the most part cook alike. I could saute any of them in olive oil with a bit of onion and garlic, and the optional sprinkling of parmesan, and they would be delicious side dishes. My goal here, though, is to make them the star of the main course, with enough non-meat protein to make them nourishing as well as delicious. Obviously one way to do this is by adding high-fat elements such as eggs and cheese (the egg-and-chard bake I found at the Sunset magazine website called for 18 eggs!). I don't really want to go there, though, and at least initially I'd like to avoid hunting down exotic ingredients such as farro. I have so far found an intriguing-sounding recipe for chard that uses chick peas (garbanzo beans) and tomatoes, so I will probably try that.
Yesterday I was rushing to finish a project at the office, so I actually worked on it in the morning instead of spending time fixing lunch, so all I did was grab 4 of the small carrots and 4 spears of asparagus, along with an organic avocado I'd picked up at TJ's on Tuesday. At lunch time I was going to buy a side salad from the cafe downstairs, but when I went to the kitchen to wash my salad bowl, I found the leavings of what had obviously been a salad tray for some sort of meeting--happens a lot where I work. So I took the remaining lettuce and cut veggies, including a few olives, and put them in my bowl with a can of yellow fin ventresca tuna (note to self: must see if there is any left at Grocery Outlet--the stuff was a steal and is so good!), the sliced avocado, and a little container of vinegar and oil dressing that had also been sitting with the salad remains. I steamed the asparagus spears in a damp paper towel in the microwave for about a minute and a half and put that in the salad, too.
The peas, in case anyone is wondering, ended up being about a half a cup worth after I hulled them--I popped them in the microwave with a little water, salt, and brown sugar and ate them on the spot.
Last night I didn't use any of the veggies--bad girl! But, anyhow, I hope to get the remaining stuff prepped and put away properly today. I have a chicken from TJ's that needs to be roasted, so will probably just do a side-dish kind of prep tonight: maybe that's a good time to make a lovely salad with the lettuce, with some canned beets and artichoke hearts. I could stuff the chicken with some sherry-and-onion sauteed rice. I will report.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
First Eatwell Farm CSA Box
I think I'll use one of the green garlic bulbs to replace the shallot in Mark Bittman's basic vinaigrette recipe.
Except that I hope to track down a local source of organic bacon Friday to try a Pennsylvania Dutch vinegar dressing for the dandelion greens, I don't really have a plan yet, except that I need to eat at least 2 kinds of veggies every day and have either eaten or prepared and frozen everything before the next box arrives next Wednesday. All suggestions welcome!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Yet another start
Well, I haven't managed to keep up with my ambitions yet, but I keep picking myself up and starting over.
Last week I came to one new realization: it's time to just say no to meat from Safeway and its ilk. I've already signed up for and will take delivery of my first basket of goods from a CSA. I chose Eatwell Farm, which has a weekly drop-off in Castro Valley. According to the email I received today, my first load will consist of:
Asparagus
Strawberries (we may only have enough for a few berries per box, and if we get a lot of rain there may not be any!)
Carrots
Fresh Onions
Lettuce
Spinach
Green Garlic
Peas (We're not sure how much we'll have for this week, but you'll get at least a little bit!)
Fava Beans
Chard
Dandelion Greens OR Radicchio
A bit dull, perhaps, as dictated by the season, and I'm going to have to augment the fruit with frozen and farmers' market, but a few of these items are a bit scary. I've only made fava beans once, and I remember it was a pretty labor-intensive process. Dandelion greens, hmm, vague memories of Pennsylvania Dutch bacon vinaigrette shimmer to the surface.
The meat question, though. I did some research last week into various local CSA and other types of free-range, grass-fed, etc. meat providers. There doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-me solution, so I may have to select a couple of providers, buy a small freezer, and go in with some friends. What's wrong with Safeway? Hormones, cruelty, eco-impact, but also the wasteful assumption that consumers only want the "good" cuts. I can remember picking a random white-paper-wrapped package out of the freezer at my parents' home when I was a kid, and it could be stew meat or steak, we used all cuts--not offal, perhaps, we are after all white bread americans, but certainly not only the grillable. I'm happy to have lamb shanks as well as leg, chops, etc. I could get around some of that by shopping in the Chinese and Mexican markets that surround my neighborhood, but I'm still left not knowing where and how the animals were fed, contained, and slaughtered. Trader Joe's, I thought, might provide a piecemeal compromise, but their lamb, at least when I went to look early this a.m., was all imported from New Zealand--hardly supportive of the world's environment or the local economy. So, in the long run, a small freezer is in my future, and some trips to outlying ranches and farms, and coordination with my friends. In the short run, I have discovered that a local market is a retailer for Llano Seco, an organic pork producer out of Chico, so I'll be checking out Porters Market in the Manor neighborhood of San Leandro tomorrow. I'll be posting photos of my haul tomorrow, and I welcome any ideas for recipes.
Last week I came to one new realization: it's time to just say no to meat from Safeway and its ilk. I've already signed up for and will take delivery of my first basket of goods from a CSA. I chose Eatwell Farm, which has a weekly drop-off in Castro Valley. According to the email I received today, my first load will consist of:
Asparagus
Strawberries (we may only have enough for a few berries per box, and if we get a lot of rain there may not be any!)
Carrots
Fresh Onions
Lettuce
Spinach
Green Garlic
Peas (We're not sure how much we'll have for this week, but you'll get at least a little bit!)
Fava Beans
Chard
Dandelion Greens OR Radicchio
A bit dull, perhaps, as dictated by the season, and I'm going to have to augment the fruit with frozen and farmers' market, but a few of these items are a bit scary. I've only made fava beans once, and I remember it was a pretty labor-intensive process. Dandelion greens, hmm, vague memories of Pennsylvania Dutch bacon vinaigrette shimmer to the surface.
The meat question, though. I did some research last week into various local CSA and other types of free-range, grass-fed, etc. meat providers. There doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-me solution, so I may have to select a couple of providers, buy a small freezer, and go in with some friends. What's wrong with Safeway? Hormones, cruelty, eco-impact, but also the wasteful assumption that consumers only want the "good" cuts. I can remember picking a random white-paper-wrapped package out of the freezer at my parents' home when I was a kid, and it could be stew meat or steak, we used all cuts--not offal, perhaps, we are after all white bread americans, but certainly not only the grillable. I'm happy to have lamb shanks as well as leg, chops, etc. I could get around some of that by shopping in the Chinese and Mexican markets that surround my neighborhood, but I'm still left not knowing where and how the animals were fed, contained, and slaughtered. Trader Joe's, I thought, might provide a piecemeal compromise, but their lamb, at least when I went to look early this a.m., was all imported from New Zealand--hardly supportive of the world's environment or the local economy. So, in the long run, a small freezer is in my future, and some trips to outlying ranches and farms, and coordination with my friends. In the short run, I have discovered that a local market is a retailer for Llano Seco, an organic pork producer out of Chico, so I'll be checking out Porters Market in the Manor neighborhood of San Leandro tomorrow. I'll be posting photos of my haul tomorrow, and I welcome any ideas for recipes.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Getting Started: Saturday Farmers' Market
So I do a little research on what is likely to be at the market and head down there about 9:30 Saturday morning. I end up with:
3 tangerines
2 oranges
2 baskets of strawberries
I try to hold back on fruit because I've still got a bunch of geriatric granny smith apples lazing around the kitchen.
Veggies:
1 bunch asparagus
1 small bag of mixed new potatoes
1 bunch dill
1 bunch lemon grass
1 head cauliflower
2 broccoli crowns
2 huge artichokes for $1.50 each, possibly my best coup.
Total expenditure about $25.
I'm going to get the mp3 player and go prep the produce next (listening to the Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith), but just for now, kicking around some ideas for what to do with the swag.
Asparagus: I can use this at least twice, one serving maybe to be steamed (en papillote?) with a halibut filet I have thawing in the fridge; this will be flavored with ginger, sesame oil, rice wine, spring onions, for a vaguely oriental effect. Brown basmati rice will accompany this for my dinner tonight.
I'd like to use a funky recipe of Alton Brown's for some of the cauliflower and all the broccoli, which will leave me with half a head of cauliflower to bake or make soup of.
Not sure I'd've let myself be tempted by the potatoes, but with the dill being available, I felt I had to. We'll see what I find. The lemon grass makes me want to make some kind of Thai chicken soup; will have to go get one of my staples, frozen boneless chicken thighs, for that. I've got coconut milk and straw mushrooms in the pantry, and kaffir lime leaves vacuum packed in the freezer. Maybe some salmon, if it's not already in the freezer, to go with some of the dill, as well. Artichokes...hmm, big questions is will I take the time to do a hollandaise or just pick up some low fat mayo at TJ's?
Just thoughts for now, time to go prep, then do some paying work. I'll post back when the plan comes together.
3 tangerines
2 oranges
2 baskets of strawberries
I try to hold back on fruit because I've still got a bunch of geriatric granny smith apples lazing around the kitchen.
Veggies:
1 bunch asparagus
1 small bag of mixed new potatoes
1 bunch dill
1 bunch lemon grass
1 head cauliflower
2 broccoli crowns
2 huge artichokes for $1.50 each, possibly my best coup.
Total expenditure about $25.
I'm going to get the mp3 player and go prep the produce next (listening to the Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith), but just for now, kicking around some ideas for what to do with the swag.
Asparagus: I can use this at least twice, one serving maybe to be steamed (en papillote?) with a halibut filet I have thawing in the fridge; this will be flavored with ginger, sesame oil, rice wine, spring onions, for a vaguely oriental effect. Brown basmati rice will accompany this for my dinner tonight.
I'd like to use a funky recipe of Alton Brown's for some of the cauliflower and all the broccoli, which will leave me with half a head of cauliflower to bake or make soup of.
Not sure I'd've let myself be tempted by the potatoes, but with the dill being available, I felt I had to. We'll see what I find. The lemon grass makes me want to make some kind of Thai chicken soup; will have to go get one of my staples, frozen boneless chicken thighs, for that. I've got coconut milk and straw mushrooms in the pantry, and kaffir lime leaves vacuum packed in the freezer. Maybe some salmon, if it's not already in the freezer, to go with some of the dill, as well. Artichokes...hmm, big questions is will I take the time to do a hollandaise or just pick up some low fat mayo at TJ's?
Just thoughts for now, time to go prep, then do some paying work. I'll post back when the plan comes together.
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